Athena’s Ashes (Star Thief Chronicles #2)(26)
Author: Jamie Grey

Finn’s face went pale. “Too dangerous to send out a distress signal?”

Kojima nodded. “We’re in MYTH space. They get word and it’s all over.”

“Fuck.” Finn’s hand trembled as he raked it through his hair. “Keep trying to regain control. I’ll prep the team for evasive maneuvers and get Aldani and the kid loaded onto one of the escape shuttles.”

Kojima turned back to his console, while Finn stared out the window at the blackness surrounding them.

“Dammit.” Kojima flipped on the comm. “Crew, prepare for jump to light speed.” He turned back to Finn. “I’ve never seen this before. It’s like the Athena’s come to life. She’s got a mind of her own.” More beeps from the nav system as it recalculated. “And she’s not backing down.”

“Keep it together as best you can, Kojima. And let’s hope whoever is in control of our ship knows what they’re doing.”

Renna reached out to touch Finn as he passed, but her arm wouldn’t obey. All she wanted was for him to know she was okay and for them to be safe. She wanted him to know how much he meant to her, even if she couldn’t say the words out loud. But so much distance separated them. Even in her dreams she wasn’t able to reach him.

A searing pain shot through her as the ship jumped to light speed and Renna gasped.

Everything went black again. Except the streaming of the stars around her.

SIXTEEN

“Is she going to be all right?” Lieutenant Blake asked softly. Renna tried to force open her eyes, but her body was trapped in a foggy softness.

“I hope so. I think she got a bigger dose of the tranq than I did, but she still should have been awake by now.”

Commander Jayla sounded worried, and Renna struggled even harder to pull herself out of the blackness holding her down.

Vibrations from Jayla’s pacing trembled through Renna’s body. So she wasn’t dead. Always good news.

Blake spoke, a smile in his voice. “The poor girl’s probably exhausted. She’s had a lot going on.” He chuckled. “Besides, Finn won’t let her sleep much longer anyway. I thought he was going to throttle me when I said he had to wait to see her.”

Jayla chuckled. “The man’s got it bad. I’ve never seen him like this.”

“Hope she doesn’t break his heart. Renna doesn’t seem like the settling-down type.” Blake sighed. “Not that you meet a lot of those kinds of girls in this job anyway.”

“Lieutenant, are you getting romantic in your old age?”

“Gods no. Who has time? I have a galaxy to save.” Blake’s footfalls approached the door. “And if that was a hint, I’m on my way back to the CIC. Sir.”

Renna tried to claw her way out of the fog before they left, but her eyes remained closed, her body still. She wanted to scream, to tell them she was listening, but her voice wouldn’t obey. She was trapped here in the dark, in her own mind, as it slowly disappeared into…nothingness.

“I’m sure she’ll wake up when she’s ready,” Jayla said, sounding troubled. “In the meantime, Finn and I have a lot to discuss.”

Finn? He was here? Renna’s mind thrashed, but she still didn’t wake. She felt the throb of the ship around her, the machinery running through the floor and walls, but she couldn’t feel her own f**king body.

The soft swish of the door sliding shut behind them left Renna alone in the room with her screaming thoughts. She tried to force her consciousness to wake, to listen to the commands she was giving it, but instead, she grew more and more tired, her limbs heavy like lead.

Until she drifted off to sleep again.

Renna jolted awake as a warm hand brushed against her face. She’d been dreaming again. Of ships and stars and men she’d thought long dead. And right now, she had no idea what was real and what she’d made up in her head.

Renna licked her cracked lips and opened her eyes. It took a moment for them to focus on the face hovering above her. A face from her dreams.

“Finn,” she croaked.

“Shhh.” He smiled down at her, expression full of concern. “Don’t talk, just take it easy. You’re going to be fine.” His fingers brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek, and her skin erupted in goose bumps.

If she wasn’t so weak, she’d have thrown herself at him. Instead, she ordered her own hand to touch his. It resisted at first, but eventually it moved and Finn curled his fingers around hers.

The touch lent her enough strength to ask, “Are you really here? How are you here?”

He gave her one of those heart-twisting half-smiles of his. Maybe she’d died and this was heaven. Maybe this was just another dream. But damn, if that was the case, she never wanted to wake up.

Her tongue felt like a wad of cotton in her mouth. Gods, when was the last time she’d brushed her teeth? She gestured to the glass of water on the table beside her bed. Finn helped her hold it to her lips, and she drank thirstily.

When her hand started to shake, Finn gently took the glass from her and set it on the table. “I was hoping you could tell me that,” he said, brushing back another strand of her hair. His gaze softened, making him look young and vulnerable.

An electrical jolt shot through her with an emotion she didn’t want to name. Putting her feelings into words would make them too real.

“The Athena brought us here on her own,” he said. “But Gheewala said she could sense your electronic signature on the ship. We didn’t have much choice but to believe her. And then we arrived in the space port and saw the Eris.” He studied her for a long moment, his expression curious but wary. “How did you do it?”

Renna frowned at him. “I don’t understand. Do what?”

“Control the Athena. You brought us here.”

What did he mean? The dull ache was back again, and she let her eyelids drift closed. It was so much work to keep them open right now, so much work trying to figure out what was going on. Sleeping was so much easier.

“Hey, Renna. Stay with me, love.” Finn’s warm hand cupped her face, and she struggled back to consciousness.

“I’m here.”

“That’s my girl. Was it the implant? Did it allow you to contact our ship?”

Renna forced herself to focus on his worried face. “I don’t know. Maybe? Once, before you went on the run, I thought I could feel the ship inside my head. Maybe we connected somehow because of the implant or the drug. But I couldn’t have controlled her. It’s not possible.”